WITCH Chaos theory
by yellow 14
Summary: The sequel to Mirandas children. Chaos theory predicts that even the smallest thing has a knock on effect. Time of course is somewhat vunerable to it.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H. Elizabetta Gnone and Disney do. Because some of the characters show Spiderman characteristics so to be on the safe side I don't own that, Marvel comics do. So don't sue ok.

AN: The sequel to Miranda's children, this fic evolved through no fewer than three separate incarnations before arriving and promptly gave birth to Miranda's Children. To the WillXCaleb shippers please don't hate me. Same to the CorneliaXCaleb shippers. Oh and the Hannah Smith character is NOT the same one found Cornelia's penance, although she does have many of her characteristics.

AN2: You know how we're supposed to avoid putting up stories with names that are already taken? Then how come there are at least 5 or 6 stories with that exact name? Weird.

Melinda ducked as a burst of magical energy shot over her head. Pulling out the Heart of Candracar, she threw a web of electrical energy at the dragon and pinned it down. To her right her friend Anzu Watshashi had caught a squad of Lurdens in a web of vines. Beside her stood the former Earth guardian Cornelia Hale who was using a quarterstaff to devastating effect on any Lurdens who came near. Her wife Irma Lair on the other hand favoured a pair of tonfa and was showing just how powerful she was with them.

Her parents Will and Caleb were using a pair of axes each on the lower level against the Sarnanonn, or slug creatures as Aunt Irma called them. On her left, Hannah and Sarah were combining their powers to create a flame-thrower effect against Liam O-Mally, the man known as Goldhand, forcing him back, while her twin brother Thomas used his webbing to tie up his powerful golden hand from which he derived his name.

In the middle of Lord Shail's forces, the water guardian Alice Dwar had gotten cut off from the rest of the forces fighting Lord Shail and had isolated herself from the enemies forces by creating a moat of sorts around herself, along with Matt Olsen and his wife Hay Lin, who were wielding a pair of swords with devastating effect. Auntie Hay didn't often get angry, but when she did, it was a good idea not to get in her way.

The others she couldn't see, but she was sure they were doing well. Time to finish this, she thought to herself. Using her spider eyes sense of pattern, she quickly found the lead dragon of the pack, she flew towards it. Reaching the dragon, she unleashed a web of magical energy against the creature, cutting its connection to its brothers and sisters. The connection cut, the dragons began to attack the Sarnanonn, leaving the Lurdens exposed. With the Sarnanonn out of the way, the missing members of their forces reappeared, fighting from Candracar's right wing. Taranee had a pair of nunchaku and her fiancé Eric wielded a massive hammer.

Those two, she smiled to herself had taken far to long getting THAT together. Seriously, she had to all but threaten to lock them in a wardrobe together to get them to admit their feelings for one another.

Seeing his forces decimated, Lord Shail began to flee. But he had reckoned without Thomas and Melinda's determination to bring the one who had had their mother killed. Liam O-Mally, the perpetrator was already in the custody of Candracar, but they wanted to bring him in too.

Shail sneered at the sight of Thomas and Melinda Vandom approaching him. Foolish humans! Did they seriously expect to be able to stop him, Lord Shail? His enhanced strength and immunity to magic made them no match for him. Or at least that's what he thought.

Thomas was the first one to reach him. Using his webbing, he forced Shail to trip up and fall on his face. A flying kick hit Shail in the stomach and he doubled over. Melinda came next and caught his fists in her hands. To Shail's immense surprise, she was forcing him down to the ground.

"How is this possible?" he gasped, to which she grinned. "I'm not entirely human. My biological father was Lord Cedric."

He fell to the ground, his strength exhausted. As he was taken away, the Oracle turned to face the twins. "Through your bravery, skill and intelligence, Candracar has been saved. You and your friends have turned the tide against Lord Shail and I have every confidence in your ability to end this war."

The guardians looked at one another. Anzu Watshashi, looked at her through her almond shaped Japanese eyes. "I think I speak for all of us when I say that we'll follow Miranda to the bitter end."

This caused a few raised eyebrows. Of all the guardians, the Earth guardian was the one who had been most resistant to being led, rather than leading. Looking around her she said "What? I was wrong ok!"

Sarah Gold, the tall willowy fire guardian came up behind her and said, "Well now I really have seen everything. Our little Anzu admitting she was wrong. Anything else you want to add?"

"Don't call me little" Anzu snapped. Even in guardian form she was short, barely reaching 5 feet and so her height or rather lack of it was something of a sore point. At that everyone laughed much to her visible annoyance.

1 month later

A hyperactive, dark skinned girl of thirteen years was babbling to her friends. "I've gotten a picture at home I want to show you." She burbled happily. "It's something you'll love, trust me."

Miranda looked down at her friend. At almost five foot five, she towered over her classmates.

"So you want us to head over to yours tonight. Fair enough Alice, I'll meet you at the school gates and go from there."

Alice grinned at her. The hyperactive water guardian looked at the rest of her friends. The ever-calm Apache-American girl, Hannah nodded at her, followed by an affirmative grunt from her slightly moody friend, a longhaired blonde girl otherwise known as Sarah Gold. Of course Sarah was probably moody because she had caught her boyfriend cheating on her with a girl called Jennie Small, one of the girls most unpleasant classmates. Finally Anzu shook her head, blushing slightly "Sorry guys, no can do. Simon finally asked me out and I said yes"

The girls cheered at this. Even though she was almost two feet shorter than the five foot Chinese boy, they had been in orbit of each other for a long time.

"So just you three then? Ok then see you later." then Alice said cheerfully as the girls went their separate ways. Hannah and Miranda headed off towards their first class of maths, taught by none other than Eric Lyndon and Anzu and Sarah headed off towards history, the bane of everyone's life at the Sheffield institute, not least because their teacher was none other than Courtney Grumper. Even Anzu, who loved history, hated her class.

Sarah looked at her friend. "You know" she began "If we were as good at art as Alice, perhaps WE could get out of this rotten class." Anzu just laughed. "Alice has to have extra lessons with her to make up for lost time." To which her friend shuddered. "A fate worse than death I think." She replied in a deadpan voice.

A few hours later

Alice reached into her art folder and withdrew a sheet of paper. "Here it is guys, the picture I was telling you about." She passed it to Melinda who unfolded it and gasped. It was them in their guardian forms. It was really good to.

At the front of the painting stood Melinda in her black trousers and purple tank top, her long black hair billowing in the wind. Behind her Hannah Smith was wearing her light blue tank top and flared purple trousers, her short wild hair making her look every inch an Apache warrior. On her left stood Anzu, wearing her all to familiar samurai armour, but still shorter than everyone else. On Melinda's right stood Sarah and Alice. Alice was wearing purple spandex leggings with a one-piece swimsuit over the top of the bottom half, defining her curvaceous figure as it tightly hugged her body. Finally right beside Alice was Sarah. Unlike the others, Sarah wore a short dark red miniskirt and a dark blue jumper. It was them to a T.

"I see taking lessons with a world famous comic book artist has paid off then." She said as she passed the picture around the group. Her friend grinned at her. "Yup, your Aunt Hay Lin has really helped me improve. Can you drop it off at Anzu's place on the way home? I want to get her opinion to."

She nodded "Sure, no prob. See you tomorrow Alice."

In Meridian however a less pleasant conversation was taking place. Normally Rebecca Hart would be trying to avoid the dungeons of Queen Elyons castle at all costs. However this mission promised to reverse the fortunes of their almost defeated group. Walking to a cave-like room (did it really count as a room? Looked more like a cave to her.) She looked at her companion, who was carrying a large, ornate clock. You could still see where the old fire guardian had cut through the metal bars.

Standing at the entrance of the cave/room she told her companion "Place it here." An arrogant, impetuous streak in her voice. "Are you absolutely sure this will work? This clock is flaming heavy."

Her companion whined in a high pitched voice, his pale white face covered in sweat.

"Of course I'm sure" she snapped. "This is the best place to cause the most damage to the timestream.

Love" she cackled, a vicious smile crossing her steel face "really is the most devastating weapon of them all." Reaching forward towards an impressive looking control panel, with lots of knobs and buttons, she pushed the large red button in its centre. Have fun guardians she thought to herself as the clock began spinning.

Melinda's friends were talking animatedly to one another, their excited voices busy speculating over Anzu's date, when the room flashed and suddenly they found themselves in a derelict version of the same building they had just been in.

Melinda was working at the Silver Dragon when the world simply flashed white and she found herself looking at a much younger version of Joan Lin, her boss. And in the corner, was an elderly lady she had only seen in pictures, Yan Lin. While Joan seemed unable to speak, probably at surprise at seeing a strange girl suddenly appearing out of thin air, Yan Lin simply fixed her with a hard stare and said "Who are you and what are you doing in my restaurant?"

Anzu's date was going well. They had gone to Heatherfield Central Park and were sitting at a bench. They kissed and the world went white. When she opened her eyes she was alone in the middle of a battlefield.

Caleb turned to face the guardians, grateful he had been rescued from the oubliette. As he did, the love spell hit him and bounced to first person he saw, Will Vandom. They didn't notice the spell, but as his green eyes met her brown they certainly noticed each other.

Cornelia Hale turned to look at her husband Caleb cleaning his M-16 and asked "You ready?" to which he nodded. Cocking her weapon, she stepped out of the bunker and charged at the enemy, rifle blazing, beside her was Caleb and behind them were their troops.

AN: The pairings in this are pretty random with the exception CorneliaXIrma and WillXCaleb. It all started with something I said in one of my reviews to XV Dragon about pairings not normally staying together. I'll be focusing on Susan's war for now I just wanted to get at least some of this out of my system.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H and I don't own the white void idea, which belongs to the Sarah Jane Adventures, who belong to the BBC. (I think)

AN: I've set the start date of the events in the W.I.T.C.H cartoons as approximately October 2005. The reason for this will become clearer over the course of this chapter, I hope. Arrgh I've just realised that in chapter one I kept referring to Melinda as Miranda. Sorry.

"Who are you? And what are you doing in my restaurant?" Yan Lin asked in a slightly more hostile voice the second time. She stared hard at Melinda, as though she were trying to read her mind.

"I I I'm Melinda." Melinda stuttered, somewhat spooked by the intensity of the stare. "And I don't know how I got here."

Seeing Melinda's obvious confusion, Yan Lin's face softened. "Well then, I guess you'd better take a seat then and wait for my little Hay Lin and her friends to return. They might be better able to help you find answers."

Joan just looked at both of them in surprise. Then she spoke through her gritted teeth "What. Are. You. Talking. About?"

Yan Lin looked at her daughter in law. "Joan" she began "There's something I need to tell you…"

Anzu stood transfixed at the sight of Lurdens and US Marines shooting at one another. It was undoubtedly Heatherfield Central Park, she recognised the war memorial. But she knew that Lurdens and Marines had never fought against one another and most certainly not in Heatherfield Central Park. Lurdens never carried guns either, travelling through portals made them useless. It wasn't until a mortar shell exploded behind her that the spell was broken. Determined to discover what was going on, she kneeled down and put her hands on the ground. Calling her powers, she discovered that they were gone, as though they never existed.

The girls looked around at the building they were in. It looked exactly like Alice's house, except it was derelict. It was Alice who broke the silence. "Umm guys it might be a good idea to get Melinda. I've got a feeling that this is guardian related stuff."

The other two looked at her with incredulous expressions. "Of course its guardian related stuff." snapped Sarah "This weird stuff is always guardian related. You're right though, we should find Melinda and the one you forgot, Anzu as well."

Blushing slightly, Alice apologised, remembering that Sarah and Anzu had been the best of friends since primary school. Cautiously they left the room they were in and they started to make their way into the street in front of them. It was then that Hannah let out a small gasp of surprise.

"What is it? What's wrong?" the girls asked the normally unshakeable air guardian.

"It's the winds. I can't hear their song. I should be able to hear their song!" Hannah said, her voice rising into a scream.

Alice and Sarah looked at her. "What song?" they both asked in unison.

"The windsong! The songs the winds carry with them all the time! The songs I've heard since I became a guardian!" Hannah said in a voice that was slightly hysterical.

Spinning her friend to face her, Sarah looked her in the eye. "Look I don't know what's going on, but we need you to stay calm. Besides you've always got us."

"Sorry, I guess I freaked a little. You're right I need to stay calm. Thanks Sarah."

Sarah flashed a relieved smile at her friend. "Hey what are friends for? Besides you'd do the same."

Thomas looked around him. All he could see was a white void. The last thing he could recall, he had been sitting in his room, working on his homework. Then there was a flash of light and he had turned up here. How did I get here? He wondered to himself

"You are here young Thomas Vandom because someone has altered time and you never got this old."

Thomas turned towards the voice. There was no one there. "What do you mean I never got this old?"

The voice spoke again. "Thomas Vandom, because time has been changed, instead of being adopted by Will and Caleb Vandom, you died at the hands of your father. You were less than a year old. Your sister would also be here, were it not for the Heart of Candracar. Because of this, there is a chance for you to help set things right."

"What do I need to do?" Thomas asked with a sinking feeling.

"Do?" the voice seemed amused. "I merely need you to contact your sister using that delightful twin telepathy you have. She's in 2005 and should be able to lead the old guardians to do what needs doing. As for the guardians of your era, well I'll find a way."

"But what do I tell her?"

"Tell her to find the love that has started too early. That will help her find her destination."

Thomas sighed. Sitting down, he closed his eyes and began to focus.

The first person Caleb saw when he entered the Silver Dragon for the first time was someone he would never have expected to see at a guardian's home. One of Phobos's soldiers known as Miranda was sitting at a table drinking tea.

Sneaking up behind her, he grabbed her wrist and forced her face down on to the table. "What are you doing here Miranda?" he asked in an angry voice, to which she replied

"I'm not Miranda, I'm Melinda." And with that she threw him over her shoulder. It was then that Will and Melinda mirrored each other as they both reached for the Heart of Candracar. As the two hearts came out, something unexpected happened. A bolt of lightening shot out from both hearts, connected briefly, before throwing both girls backward and knocking them both unconscious.

Melinda opened her eyes to see her brother, surrounded by a white void. "Hi sis" he said with a smile. "There's a message I have to pass on. Time has been changed and according to this white void, you can fix it. Don't ask. Point is your supposed to help fix this. You start by finding the love that has started too soon. This sounds stupid but it's our only lead."

Melinda nodded. "At least it's a start. Now the hard thing is to convince this lot that I'm not our mum. Our biological mum that is."

Thomas laughed. "That's brilliant that. Have fun."

Melinda opened her eyes to see Will lying on a bed opposite her. She could hear the others arguing in the other room. Will looked at her. "Who are you and why do you have a copy of the heart?"

"Well" Melinda began "it's sort of like this…"

AN: Before I forget, thank you again XV-Dragon for your invaluable help, it's most useful.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: See ch1

Cornelia ducked behind the old war memorial in Heatherfield Central Park as bullets flew at her. Peeking from her place of cover, she saw an Asian girl kneeling on the ground, less than three metres away from her. The girl had a look of bewilderment and fear on her face. Gritting her teeth, Cornelia dashed out to the girl and grabbed her, carrying her to safety.

Anzu looked at the face of her rescuer with something approaching relief. "Cornelia?" she began, before throwing her arms around the former Earth guardian's neck in a hug. "Boy, am I glad to see you. What happened to my powers? It's like they were never there. I can't communicate with the earth or anything."

Cornelia looked at the girl she had just rescued with suspicion. "How do you know my name and what are you doing in the middle of a battlefield? And what do you mean powers?" to which the girl replied "My guardian powers of course. And you've known me since I became the new Earth guardian." Seeing the questioning look on Cornelia's face, she pressed on "For crying out loud, you were there when we defeated Lord Shail's forces at Candracar"

Cornelia's face became a scowl. " Three things ok? One, I've never seen you before in my life. Two, Candracar fell to Lord Shail's forces a month ago. All of the guardians, including my daughter and almost all of my friends died there. If my daughter hadn't thrown my husband Caleb and I out at the last minute, we would have died to. And not a day goes past that I wish she had lived instead of me. Three, you still haven't told me what you are doing here."

Anzu stared at Cornelia. "Oookay then. I'm not entirely sure how I got here, but I'm getting my suspicions as to what's going on. This may sound hard to believe but…

"Time travel?" Irma said looking at Melinda suspiciously. "Do you really think that we're that gullible? If that's the best that Prince Phobos's underlings can come up with, then beating him is going to be easier than I thought."

Melinda just glared at her aunt (or would be aunt sometime in the future) "Irma Lair. You've just discovered that you have magical powers, are meant to save the world and have just fought a huge monster called gargoyle with your friends. Add the fact that I'm wearing the Heart of Candracar at the same time as your leader Will, is time travel really that far-fetched?"

"Yes!" Cornelia burst out. "For once in her life Irma's right. I mean seriously, we're meant to believe someone who looks and sounds like one of Phobos's minions. Purlease. We're not stupid you know."

Irma just grinned. "Well I'm not so sure about Corny here, but even she's not that stupid."

Cornelia just scowled at her and raised her fist. But before she could do anything, Melinda said something to stop everyone in his or her tracks. "How you two ended up married I don't know."

At this statement Cornelia and Irma jumped away from one another, spluttering "But I'm not gay!!" simultaneously. The rest of the girls just laughed at this.

"I still don't trust her." Said Caleb from the corner of the basement. "But the fact that she has a copy of the heart troubles me. I suggest that we find out where Phobos is getting these things from and cut them off at the source."

Melinda let out an exasperated sigh. Caleb might be her adopted father in the future and probably one of the best, but right now he was being something of a nuisance. "Phobos doesn't have a source of fake hearts, I've already told you…"

"Yes, yes we know. You're from the future." Taranee cut in. "An while ah might buy that, I'll need proof to believe you."

Melinda racked her brain for ideas. "Well" she began "We could ask Candracar. The heart should be able to take us there. If nothing else it'll get me outta your hair."

Will, who had been sitting on a chair fiddling with the heart looked up sharply at those words. "I didn't know it could do that." But Yan Lin shook her head. "The heart hasn't been able to open portals like that since the veil was put in place." She said.

Melinda paused for a moment. "I've got a picture of the guardians from my generation in my pocket. Would that help?" she asked hopefully.

"Which pocket?" Yan Lin asked. "If nothing else, it'll give us an idea of what we're up against."

Melinda hesitated for a moment, before answering. "Right hand pocket. If you untie me I could get it out."

Yan Lin just looked at her. Then she smiled, her eyes lighted up with amusement. "No I don't think so." Turning to her granddaughter she said "Hay Lin, would you please retrieve the picture this young lady is referring to? Your power over air should be able to do it.

Melinda felt a build up of air in her pocket followed by a sudden tearing noise as her pocket was ripped off of her trousers. As the pocket fluttered towards Hay Lin, she looked at the diminutive air guardian with an eyebrow raised questioningly.

Hay Lin saw the damage she had done and sheepishly apologised. "But" she added brightly "look on the bright side. I'll be able to give you a funky new patch for your trousers. Or better still, design you a whole new outfit. That'll be fun, I've already got a few ideas and…" She trailed off as the other guardians looked at her with annoyance. With a sigh, she put her hand into the pocket and removed Alice's drawing.

The other girls gathered round to see the drawing. "Hey" Cornelia said, "They're human."

Melinda closed her eyes in exasperation. 'Wherever you are' she thought to herself 'I hope your doing better than I am'

Cornelia looked at Anzu in disbelief. "You're telling me that all this death and destruction didn't happen in your timeline?" Anzu nodded. Cornelia continued "So perhaps there might be a way to change it back?" Anzu nodded again. "Well you sound crazy to me, but I'm willing to try anything. It's got to be a better world than this. No parent should have to outlive their child. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."

As Hannah, Alice and Sarah stepped out of the building, they came face to face with the one person they really didn't want to see without their guardian powers. Standing right in front of them stood Rebecca Hart, her steel body glistening even in the dull light. Hannah summed it up in one word. "Damn"


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

AN: I've recently discovered that fanfiction hasn't been uploading the lines of asterisks I use to signify a change of scene. This has managed to confuse things so I'll clarify the details. Melinda is the only guardian to have gone back in time. Anzu is still in her own time, it's just that she's met the Cornelia that exists because of the change in the timeline as opposed to the one who should exist. Hope this clears things up.

Rebecca looked at the three girls in front of her and smiled. Oh how she had longed to see this, her most powerful enemies standing powerless in front of her. "Welcome Guardians" she said with a smile. "Welcome to my world." She paused. "It's amazing what a little change in time can do, isn't it? One small detail and everything changes. And now you will pay the price for defeating my Lord Shail. Seize them!" And with that the three girls found themselves surrounded by armed Lurdens.

Just as the Lurdens got close however, the three girls simultaneously kicked the Lurdens closest to them. The one kicked by Alice flew backwards as her heel smashed into its jaw. Meanwhile Hannah's went straight down as her leg spun round. In the middle of these two, Sarah brought the top part of her foot into the groin of the Lurden in front of her. Everything seemed to pause for a moment and then the girls ran down a side alley. Two seconds later the Lurdens began shooting at them. Badly.

"What did she mean welcome to my world?" shouted Alice as they ran.

"Talk later" replied Sarah between breaths.

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Melinda looked at the room around her. When she had become a guardian, she'd never thought she'd find herself tied up in the basement of her workplace. By people she'd known all her life, no less. And seven years before she was born. It had to be one of the oddest things she had ever experienced, including all the guardian stuff.

The old guardians (or should that be new?) and Caleb were in Meridian, seeking the source of Phobos's fake hearts. Fake hearts that didn't exist, but she had to admit it sounded more likely than what she had told them.

There was a creak on the stairs. Looking up, Melinda saw Joan Lin coming down to her and in her hands was a bowl of soup.

"I brought you something to eat," she said quietly. "I don't know what my mother in law or my daughter and her friends have in mind for you, but I'm damned if I'm going to let you starve to death."

She placed the bowl down on the table. Then she turned Melinda's chair towards it. Melinda looked at the soup. It looked like leek and potato. She looked at Joan with a puzzled look. "How.." she began, but Joan held up her hand. "I'm going to have to feed you it myself. After all, if you really are dangerous, I don't want to take any chances." And with that she began spooning soup into Melinda's mouth.

For a few minutes they sat in silence as Joan Lin fed her. Then, out of the blue Joan blurted out, "Are you really from the future?"

Melinda swallowed her soup in shock and promptly began coughing as the soup went down the wrong way. "You-you actually believe me?" she asked in surprise.

Joan blushed slightly. "Well it sounds like something out of one of my comic books and I've always enjoyed a good sci-fi or fantasy book. So tell me your story and I'll see what I can find out to support it. Of course that's assuming your telling the truth." She paused for a moment and frowned. "I don't like lies. A lie can go round the world…"

"Before the truth has got its boots on" Melinda finished. "You told me that one first time I worked for you. You said that's why you despised lies, people are always more willing to believe them." Melinda smiled sadly. "Thank you Mrs Lin"

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Caleb stared in disbelief at the girl in front of him. She was, without doubt Miranda. They had stumbled into one of Phobos's secret weapons facilities that littered Meridian, but as they attacked, Miranda came out to meet them. Locking swords with a Lurden, Caleb shook his head. He needed to focus on the task at hand. While Hay Lin swept up the weapons with a powerful breeze, Taranee used a huge fireball to melt them. Between them, the heat was pretty intense, so Irma flooded the ground with water. This stopped the fireball from choking them all.

"Hey" Will called to Caleb as she hit another Lurden "Is it me or does that girl look like Miranda?"

Miranda snarled and transformed herself into a giant spider. Wills eyes went even wider. "No like about it. I am Miranda!" the spider snarled. But just as she leapt at Will, a web of vines shot up in front of her. Standing at the side, grinning was Cornelia. "I'm not about to let you have all the fun you know. I'd have stepped in sooner but I got pinned down by some of her webbing."

Flashing her a grateful smile Will ordered a retreat, leaving behind a thoroughly defeated enemy. But Will was far from happy. If Miranda was here, how did she escape the Silver Dragon? More importantly who was hurt in the process? The others seemed to share her thoughts as they too rushed to the portal they entered Meridian through.

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"Thomas Vandom" the voice boomed. Thomas looked up. "Yes?"

"I believe I have a solution to my problem with contacting your generation of guardians." The voice paused. "Entities such as myself are allowed to choose an agent to deal with problems that arise within our sphere. Most seldom bother, including myself. However I need someone to help me this time to fix this mess. I am asking you to act as my agent."

Thomas frowned. "What are you exactly?"

The voice sighed. "I am time and space. I do not involve myself with the affairs of good and evil. None of us do. But we object when people change what should not be changed."

Thomas thought for a bit. "I won't be asked hurt the guardians will I?" He asked.

"No. Nor will you be asked to go against family, friends or Candracar itself" replied the voice.

"Ok I'm in" Thomas said cheerfully. "Tell me what I'm doing."

"I'm sending you to your friend Anzu Watshashi. I'll explain what you need to do then." The voice said as Thomas began to vanish.

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Anzu was having a harder time of persuading Caleb about her story than she had Cornelia. She had explained about her being a guardian and how she had been there at the battle of Candracar. She'd even thrown in her theory about time travel being used to change time.

"So let me get this straight. Your saying that Lord Shail was defeated at the battle of Candracar and so someone has changed history, so that he did win. And you are the only person to remember this." Caleb stared at her. "Cornelia may be happy to believe you, but I don't."

Anzu gritted her teeth and raised her hand to her forehead. "I've already said this. I'm the only person who remembers, that I'm aware of. My friends might, but I don't know where they are."

Caleb's face turned to a frown. "Listen kid, Cornelia is really delicate right now. After we lost our daughter in the fall of Candracar, she almost killed herself. I won't have ANYONE hurt her like this. If you keep telling her this crap she'll go over the edge. Find evidence to support your claim or shut up."

But when he turned away, Anzu saw tears in his eyes. The anger and aggression, she realised, was a defence mechanism.

But she couldn't afford to be gentle. "Very well. I'll go find the others." She said in a cold voice and turned to leave, but before she could, there was a glimmer of light and right beside her Thomas Vandom shimmered into view. Smiling at Anzu and Caleb, he said one word. "Hi"

Second disclaimer: The saying A lie can go round the world before the truth has got its boots on comes from the Terry Pratchet book The Truth. I don't own the rights Terry Pratchet does.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H. I only own my ideas ok.

Where is it, where is it? Joan Lin thought to herself as she searched through the boxes in the attic. Ah there it is Joan Lin thought as she spotted a small box at the bottom of one of the larger ones. As she pulled the box out, her feelings were mixed. Ten years ago, she swore never to use this thing again. But now she was doing it for someone she barely knew. She still wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was something to do with the girl's age. After all she couldn't be much older than her own daughter Hay Lin. Yes that was probably it. With a sigh, she headed downstairs.

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"Do you think we lost them?" puffed Alice as the girls stopped running.

"Yeah I think we lost them." Sarah replied as she caught her breath. "But I think I have an idea about what Rebecca was talking about."

"What, really?" the other two girls said simultaneously. Sarah nodded.

"Yup. You know how Rebecca uses items to bend space around her? Well maybe she's discovered something to bend time as well. After all if you can effect one, you can effect the other, right?"

Alice and Hannah looked at each other. When it came to stuff like this Anzu and Sarah were well ahead of their classmates. This would be annoying were it not for the fact that they were barely passing English class. And they were often willing to help the others when they were struggling.

"Umm non genius talk for the rest of us please? We're not you and Anzu you know." Hannah asked.

"Sorry. Well basically it goes like this. Time and space are related. That's why when we fought her everything was out of whack. What I'm saying is that maybe she's bent time the same way."

"So basically she's travelled in time and altered it. Why didn't you just say so in the first place?"

Alice asked in an annoyed voice.

"Hey it's not my fault you don't pay attention in science." Sarah retorted angrily. It looked like the start of an argument had Hannah not intervened.

"Guys, guys, can we focus on the situation at hand. If that's the case how do we fix it?"

"I don't know. But I do know that if we'll probably do better with the five of us, ok." Sarah replied.

"I suggest we stick together. Without our powers it's the only way we'll be able to come together when we find the others." Suggested Alice, determined to prove that she wasn't stupid.

"I agree. I suggest we start by searching Heatherfield Central Park." Said Sarah.

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Caleb looked at the young man that had materialised in his tent. He had seen all sorts of strange things with W.I.T.C.H and later with his daughter when she led the new guardians. With a sigh he began to start asking questions.

"You're Thomas Vandom right?" he asked in a hostile voice.

Thomas nodded. He was more than aware that it was not a good time for smart comments.

"Seeing as Will and Matt never had any children I find that hard to believe." Said Caleb. Anzu glared at him.

"Weren't you listening to what I said?" she began angrily "The past has been changed idiot. Wait did you say Will and Matt?"

Caleb sighed. The news that the lead singer of the infamous band Cobalt Blue was getting married to an old school friend Will Vandom had been all over the news when it had happened.

"Yes Will Vandom and Matthew Olsen." He looked at them "As in the couple who everyone was talking about a few months ago."

"Hold on a moment, that was Hay Lin and Matt, not Will and Matt. Will was supposed to have married you." Anzu said in a surprised voice.

"No, Will and I USED to date. But we broke up years ago." Caleb said in an angry voice. "After that I began dating Cornelia. Will didn't object, she had another boyfriend by then."

"That's what he meant!" exclaimed Thomas Vandom. "Search for the love that started too soon. Of course, he must have been talking about Will and Caleb."

There was a bemused look on Caleb's face.

"Oh come on off it. How dangerous can love be?" He asked, clearly amused

"You'd be surprised." Thomas growled in reply

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Joan Lin sat in the basement with Melinda and waited. She didn't want to take any chances until the guardians had returned. After all, this was dangerous magic. It wouldn't kill her, but it would leave Joan severely weakened for a few hours.

"Penny for your thoughts" Melinda asked, bringing her out if her reverie.

Joan just smiled sadly. "I'm doing something I swore I'd leave well enough alone. You see, Yan Lin isn't the only one with secrets in her past. I'll explain more when the girls are back." Leaving Melinda to ponder what secrets lay in Joan's past that she didn't want to talk about.

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"So lets get things straight. To fix the timeline, you want me to go to the place where Will and I fell in love." Asked Caleb.

"Yeah that's the idea. We'll need the others though, otherwise it probably won't work." Thomas replied. He was having difficulty in persuading Caleb to go along with the plan. Fortunately for Thomas and Anzu, he wasn't the only person they were trying to convince.

"Come on Caleb. If there's a chance they're right, then we should look into it." Cornelia interjected. "And if it's a trap we should be able to get out easily enough."

Caleb sighed again. He seemed to be doing far too much of that lately.

"Fine I'm in. But how are we going to get to Meridian? We don't have anything that can open portals at all. The heart of Candracar was destroyed when Candracar fell, as well as Blunk and many others."

It was Anzu who answered him. "We'll begin by finding the others first. Then we'll worry about getting there, ok?"

"Just one more thing. I'd better fill Melinda in so she can do the same." Thomas said in a calm voice.

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A familiar voice cut into Melinda's thoughts. "Hiya sis. I've got some news for you. First off time/space has sent me to our time to fix the damage on our end. I've made contact with Anzu, dad and Cornelia. Turns out that in this timeline he married Cornelia instead of Will. Which brings us to the next point. The love that's started too early is Mum and Dads love. Sometime in the past, in Meridian, Dad fell in love with mum instead of someone else. We're going to try and find the others."

"And I've got to convince the old guardians to believe me. Have fun."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H. So don't please, please, please don't sue ok.

When W.I.T.C.H reached the Silver Dragon, they found no signs of struggle, nothing to indicate Miranda's escape. Encountering Miranda in Meridian had been something of a shock to them, especially as they were certain that she was their prisoner on Earth.

They charged into the basement of the Silver Dragon to find their prisoner where they left her and Joan Lin sitting there with a small box.

"Ah there you are girls," she said in a calm voice. "Hay Lin, call your grandmother down please, she should be here for this and I don't want to explain myself twice."

The five girls and Caleb looked at her with puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Hay Lin I told you to get your grandma." She said with a slight growl this time.

Hay Lin charged upstairs and a few minutes later returned with Yan Lin. They joined Joan in the basement. She looked around at them all and made a silent prayer to any deity, who would care to listen, that they didn't hate her for what she was about to tell them. Especially not her dear Hay Lin. She could live with the scorn of the others, but her daughter meant the world to her.

"I…" she started "Yan Lin you're not the only one with secrets in your past." Reaching down to the box, she withdrew a blood red crystal ball. Yan Lin let out a curse.

"That's a Falintra." She exclaimed and turned to face Joan. "What. Are. You. Doing. With. That. Thing of black magic?"

Joan sighed and leant back. "It's a part of my past that I'm not proud of. It all started twenty years ago, when I lived in Hutchville…"

Flashback

Twenty years ago.

A sixteen-year-old Chinese girl ran through the snow-covered streets of Heatherfield. She was very late for school. Again. To be fair, it wasn't entirely her fault. After all, getting her little sister ready in the morning, preparing her pack lunch, getting her moms wages off her before she drank them all away and a thousand other things that needed doing before she left made getting to school on time an almost impossible task. And people wondered why she preferred fictional worlds.

Walking into her history class, everyone turned to look at her and she felt her cheeks warm up. She really didn't like being the centre of attention, it tended to lead to awkward questions and Joan was too proud to accept charity.

"Sorry I'm late sir" she said to Professor Goldsmith and prayed that he was in a good mood. If he was in a good mood she might just avoid serious trouble. If he was in a bad mood he would-.

"So glad you could join us Miss Chang. Especially on the day of a pop quiz."

-do that. Her best friend Chen Lin whispered a small "good luck" to her as she passed. Luck it seems wasn't with her and she flunked the test. It wasn't that Joan was stupid. She just didn't have much opportunity to study. The rest of the day went by in a similar fashion and so by the end of the day Joan Chang felt thoroughly drained.

Things seemed to brighten up when she got to work at the Golden Diner. There she met their newest member of staff.

"Joan Chang this is Jonathan Trask. I want you to show him the ropes around here" Her manager told her. "Jonathan has just joined us and needs to know how to do his job"

Joan looked at him and thought to herself that perhaps today wasn't completely bad after all. With his short blonde hair, dark eyes and strong chin, he looked like an angel. But his eyes had a certain playful daring behind them.

A few days later they began to date. Things picked up at school as he started giving her lifts to school, ensuring that her punctuality improved dramatically. The only fly in the ointment was Chen. Chen had taken against Jonathan big time and their friendship suffered as a result. Joan loved the fact that unlike some of the boys at school, he treated her like a person and not some cheap tart.

"Joan" started Jonathan "there's something I'd like to share with you."

Joan looked at him curiously. "What is it?" she asked.

He reached into his bag and pulled out a blood red card. Beckoning her closer, he pricked his finger with a needle and squeezed a drop of blood onto it. On the card, writing began to appear.

Joan Chang, it read, I love you. Joan blushed.

"Joan Chang, I want to teach you how to use your magic. At first I was unsure if you even could, but now I'm certain. But only if you want to. Are you willing?" he asked.

"Yes" she replied without hesitation. For Joan, who often found herself wishing to be someone else or somewhere else, the lure of magic was very strong.

Over the next few weeks, Joan learned blood magic. One Friday morning however, Chen confronted her.

"What exactly are you two up too? I've hardly seen you these past few weeks and you're always sporting new cuts every time I do."

Joan felt a rush of anger course through her. "What I do is none of your business Chen Lin!" she snapped and stormed off. They spent the rest of the day avoiding one another.

Jonathan was waiting for her outside school in his car.

"There's a special occasion tonight and I want you there. You'll love it, trust me. I'll need to pick you up straight after school, but trust me, it'll be well worth it." Was all he had told her that morning. As she wasn't working that night, she agreed.

They drove to a big house in an isolated part of Heatherfield and walked in. Joan was a little uncertain about this, but Jonathan assured her that they were expected. As they walked into the main ballroom, she was grabbed from behind by two men and pinned to the ground. She let out a scream and Jonathan turned towards her and let out a small laugh.

"My dear Joan" he began with a cruel smile on his face "Whatever made you think that you could ever be anything more than trash? The only reason I taught you what I did was to bring out your magic that resides in your blood. You know, it's pretty rare to find someone with your potential."

"But-but you said you loved me!" She stuttered, as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"Why would anyone love someone like you?" He sneered.

She felt the chains being attached to her arms and legs and was hauled up onto the wall. Shortly afterwards, others arrived wearing hooded robes. It looked like a scene from a bad horror movie, but it was all too real and Joan felt a surge of fear. Chen had been right, Jonathan was bad news. She regretted her argument with him earlier. He was her best friend with his impressive sense of compassion, his wise advice and his beautiful eyes. No, he meant far more than a best friend, she loved him. She just wished she could tell him before she died. After all, she was unlikely to survive whatever these people had planned.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen of the Circle." Jonathan called out to the crowd in front of him. Tonight, we harvest the blood of one whose blood has more power then anybody in this town. Blood powerful enough to resurrect Bayell himself. And when Bayell returns, our rightful place in this world will finally be ours." Raising a knife, he held it high. The people gave him a huge cheer. A robed man forced her throat towards a stone basin in the centre of the room.

But as Jonathan approached her, the man hit him in the face. In the confusion that followed, the mysterious man ran and grabbed an axe from the wall, broke her chains and dragged her out. On their way out, someone knocked one of the burning torches over and the building began to burn. When they reached the outer gates, Joan and her rescuer turned to look back. In it they could see Jonathan Trask standing amongst the flames, laughing maniacally. They called the fire brigade, but by the time they arrived, the building was an inferno. She turned to face her rescuer and smiled.

"Thank you Chen. Thanks for saving me from them and myself."

"How did you know it was me?" he asked as he lowered his hood.

"You're the only person who would do that for me. How did you know how to find me?" she replied.

"When I saw him waiting for you, I had a feeling that something was wrong. So I followed you on my bike. I ran into one of them when I sneaked in and was able to steal his robes" He paused. "Joan Chang I…" but he didn't have a chance to go any further as she kissed him with a passion.

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"That's when Chen and I started dating and I've never regretted it" finished Joan. Looking at the group gathered in front of her, she saw them looking at her with awe-struck expressions.

"Why didn't they just kill you at the beginning?" Asked Irma.

"They needed her blood to be as strong as possible for it to succeed. For that you need someone who is using magic." Answered Yan Lin with an odd expression on her face.

"Which brings us to this." Finished Joan. "The Falintra allows three people to share their thoughts and feelings completely. No secrets, no lies, nothing at all can be hidden. It's very draining and can leave you completely stunned. Even Jonathan couldn't hide anything from me, which is why Jonathan used someone else to teach me it. So I need someone to volunteer to be the third person."

"I'll do it." Caleb volunteered. "After all, the guardians are far more important."

They couldn't fault his reasoning. First Joan pricked her finger with a needle and squeezed a drop of blood onto the crystal. She then did the same to Caleb and Melinda. They then placed their hands onto the crystal and the memories of all three began to flow through them.

AN: Have you ever had a story that goes off into an entirely unexpected direction? When I started this fic, Joan Lin was never meant to play such a major role, or have any secret past, but here we are. Hope you like it anyway. As always, read and review.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H. Do you have a problem with that?

AN: I'm glad I was able to get this up on time. Really.

Melinda felt her head spin as Joan's magic began to take effect. Memories began to flicker through her mind, some of them were hers, others from Caleb or Joan. Every embarrassing moment, every fear and doubt she ever had came rushing back to her with startling sharpness. But it wasn't just her memories. Caleb's memories were there and Joan's as well.

Flashback (Melinda)

Melinda is three years old. Her dad Caleb is playing with her, in an energetic game of tickling.

Flashback(Caleb)

Caleb is five years old. He taps his friend Aldarn on the shoulder and grins.

"Your it." He says in his child's voice, before turning to run away, Aldarn chasing him as fast as he can.

Flashback(Joan)

Joan looked down at the small bundle the nurse had just given her and felt an overwhelming surge of love for the child she held in her arms. Looking up at her husband Chen, she smiled at him and said.

"Isn't she beautiful? Our little girl Hay."

Flashback (Melinda)

It's Melinda's fourteenth birthday and she's having a party. A small celebration for her and her brother, with a few close friends. Thomas and his friend Lewis are having a friendly wrestling match in the garden, egged on by their friends. The girls on the other hand, have decided to play a game of truth or dare in the kitchen. It's Anzu's turn and the stubborn Japanese girl's face is furrowed in concentration as she tries to conceive a good dare for Alice. They're interrupted by Melinda's mum, Will Vandom.

"Girls" Will begins "I'm going to tell you a story that will be very important to you…"

Flashback(Caleb)

Caleb nocked the arrow to his bow. Drawing back the bowstring, he took aim and let it go. His opponent does the same thing a second later. Both arrows hit the target, but it is his opponents shot that is a bullseye and not his. Oh it's not far out, but his shot is slightly out.

"Bad luck Caleb. Looks like I win the archery tournament." His opponent says to him. Caleb smiles at him.

"Aldarn." He begins "You're the better shot. You beat me fair and square. Well done"

Flashback (Joan)

Joan is walking Hay Lin to school for the first time and for once, her little girl isn't bouncing off the walls. As they arrive at the school gates, Hay Lin's face lights up as she spots her kindergarten friend, Irma Lair. Although Irma has proven herself adept at getting both herself and Hay Lin into trouble, Joan sense's a good heart in her.

The memories continue to come flowing through, in a wave that threatens to engulf them, but Joan controls their flow and neither Caleb nor Melinda are overwhelmed. The memories appear in random order. The memories aren't sequential, but their shared link provides them with a sense of time and place. As the spell ends and the link was broken, Joan collapsed on the table.

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"I don't recall Heatherfield Central Park looking like this." Alice commented sardonically as the three girls arrived.

Hannah pointed to the war memorial that sat in the middle of the space they were in. (She didn't think that the word park could really apply to the battlefield that lay around them) "That's definitely the war memorial." She began "And it's at the same place as we remember. It's just… different."

Alice let out a slight laugh. "That's rather like saying Niagara Falls is a little big. Whatever Rebecca changed, it was big."

"I'm not so sure it was." Sarah replied, her face wearing a curious expression.

Hannah and Alice stared at their friend in disbelief. It was Alice who spoke first.

"This isn't the time for joking around Sarah." She said firmly. Sarah shook her head.

"I wasn't joking Al. My best friend's out there somewhere and she's all alone. We at least have each other." She paused, feeling uncertain about how to continue. "It's called the butterfly effect or to give it its proper title, chaos theory. Essentially it states that a small disturbance can create a big disturbance. The best example is the butterfly flapping its wings. A butterfly flaps its wings in Africa and nine months later it causes a hurricane in New Orleans."

"That's ridiculous!" her friends exclaimed. Sarah merely smiled.

"Well in 99 of cases the motion of the butterfly is cancelled out. But in 1 of cases, it does just that. It sounds ridiculous, but it's the only way to explain weather systems. I'm guessing that time is similar."

Alice opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the sound of a dozen assault rifle bolts clicking into place. Turning to face the sound, they found themselves staring down the barrels of a dozen M-16's held by a dozen US Marines.

"Oh damn." Was all Alice could say.

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"Tell us again where your friends house is, that is to say the one they were visiting?" the soldier asked Anzu for what felt like the thousandth time. Anzu rolled her eyes and wished her friends were there. Alice would probably have some sarcastic remark on the tip of her tongue, meanwhile her best friend Sarah would be close to losing her temper. Hannah on the other hand would be sitting there calmly, perhaps preventing Anzu and Alice from getting into yet another fight.

As a guardian, Anzu was used to getting into tough situations. But she always had her friends with her and she always had her powers. Of the two, it was her friends she was missing now.

With a weary sigh, she turned towards the soldier and gave him the address once more. He looked at her doubtfully.

"We've already checked there and found no-one. Are you sure?" he asked her and Anzu felt her temper rise.

"Yes I'm sure! Search again dammit!" she snapped in annoyance.

"There's no need to snap you know." A voice said sarcastically from her right. She turned and glared angrily at the voices owner.

"You'd snap too if you were in my position, Mr Thomas Vandom!" she snapped at him. Thomas Vandom just smiled back at her.

"I'm not in your position Anzu. Aren't I lucky?" he asked sardonically.

Suddenly Anzu smacked the palm of her hand against her forehead.

"I've been such an idiot!" she exclaimed.

"Well I could've told you that." Thomas replied with a smirk on his face. Anzu merely ignored him.

"Caleb! What about searching Heatherfield Central park as well? Maybe they made their way there when this stuff kicked off."

"Worth a try I suppose." Caleb said doubtfully, so Anzu tried to explain further.

"It's not the first time that we've faced weird stuff like this and they knew I was going to be there, so perhaps they went looking for me. It's got to be worth a shot."

"Most of that territory is under enemy control and there are marauders all over the place. I doubt they'd be able to even get there." Seeing the puzzled expressions on their faces, Caleb continued. "Marauders are groups of renegade soldiers and the like, who use the warzone to run wild. They're noted for being thieves and ruthless killers, occasionally they take hostages, if they appear to be valuable."

"Can you please try at least?" Anzu pleaded with him, her voice strained. Caleb nodded his eyes sympathetic.

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On closer inspection, the marines didn't really look like marines. Oh they were wearing US marine Corp uniforms, but Alice could see at least three days stubble on some of them and their weapons looked badly maintained. No Alice knew that these were no marines.

"Well what have we here?" said a greasy, redheaded young man, who appeared to be the groups leader. All three of them recognised him instantly. Uriah Dunn was a petty crook and a thug, who had recently gone to jail in their timeline. He had beaten up an old lady in a truly vicious mugging and his face had appeared all over the local papers. It appeared he hadn't in this timeline.

"Didn't you hear me?" he snarled. "Perhaps we'll have a bit of fun with you first, before we kill you. After all, it'd be a shame for you to die virgins, eh boys?" He waved to his men who sniggered at his comment.

As the men closed in on them, the girls looked at each other, then at the men and balled their fists. They were determined to go down fighting. After all, as Caleb had said during their training, if you're going to die, you might as well die fighting.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H

"Mum!" Hay Lin exclaimed with worry as her mum collapsed.

"She'll be ok!" Melinda snapped, causing Hay Lin to flinch. Melinda shook herself. "Sorry, it's just been a long day."

Joan let out a slight groan and sat up. In a flash, Hay Lin was hugging her harder than her tiny frame suggested was even possible.

"Er, Hay it's generally not a good sign when someone starts turning purple." Irma interjected. Hay Lin released her mum. Joan shook her head.

"I'll be a little weak for a few hours, but I'll be ok. You and your friends need to focus on fixing the timeline." Joan told her daughter.

Caleb rubbed his head and sighed. "She's right you know." He paused for a moment and looked at Melinda. "I never thought I'd end up raising Miranda and Cedric's kids." Yan Lin and the guardians stared at them, incredulously.

"Cedric? As in that giant snake-man Lord Cedric? You gotta be kidding me." Irma asked.

"Yes THAT Cedric." Melinda answered testily.

"Hey it's not like you choose your parents." Will added. "Now all we need to do is find a portal and…"

Melinda slashed the Heart across the air and a thick white line appeared.

"One spatial fold, served up hot." Melinda said with a smile. Yan Lin stared with her mouth hanging open in surprise. Melinda and Caleb shook their heads.

"You'll see." Was all they said.

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Hannah, Sarah and Alice looked at Uriah's approaching thugs

"You know, this situations exactly like that time on Carit Frut." Alice commented with a smile forming on her face.

Sarah looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"How is this situation anyth…" she began before pausing, her eyes widening in recognition. "Oh."

With a wink to her friends, Alice threw herself at the feet of the nearest marine and began to beg pathetically.

"Please don't kill me, pllleeaaasse."

The man looked down at her and snorted with contempt. He swung his rifle up and was about to hit her with the butt, when, with cobra like speed, Sarah sprang up with an uppercut under his jaw, simultaneously she grabbed his rifle with her other hand. Letting out a high burst to force their heads down, she backed up towards her friends, keeping the gun trained on Uriah and his men. However, they all knew that they had only delayed things a little. They were trapped and without their guardian powers. On Carit Frut, they had only needed a little time for W.I.T.C.H to destroy the power inhibitor. This was a different kettle of fish altogether.

Raising their weapons, Uriah and his men brought them to bear on the girls.

"Why make this harder than it needs to be, girls?" Uriah asked plaintively as they cocked their weapons.

"For what it's worth guys, I'm glad to have been a part of this group and a guardian. You guys are the best friends a girl could ask for." Alice said, looking over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I'd say the same thing." Replied Sarah.

"No regrets here." Added Hannah and the three of them grinned at each other, for what must have seemed to be the last time.

Several rifles fired. But it wasn't the girls who died. Uriah fell to the ground, screaming in agony as his hands tried to stem the flow of blood coming from his guts. Most of his men were killed in the first few seconds. Those who survived either ran or tried to fight. Those who stood their ground, died where they stood. Those who ran fared little better.

The young man wearing a Marine uniform who was leading their rescue turned to face them and asked. "Are you three Sarah Gold, Alice Dwar and Hannah Smith?"

It was Hannah who recovered her voice first and answered. "Yes that's us. How did you know where to find us and how do you know our names?"

The young Marine lieutenant gave her a slight smile. "Your friend Anzu suggested you might come here looking for her."

"Anzu? Is she ok?" Sarah asked, her voice worried.

"Major Caleb's wife Cornelia saved her life earlier. She's back at base, along with a dark haired boy who calls himself Thomas Vandom."

All three girls raised their eyebrows as one in a distinctly spooky manner. "Thomas? Then where's Melinda?" they asked in unison. The man took a step back.

"He said something about her being in the past. Now let's get out of here, before we attract any more trouble." He replied.

"What about him?" Alice said, gesturing towards Uriah, who was moaning in agony on the ground, bleeding from his gut.

"It's a fatal wound. He'll be dead within the hour. There's nothing anyone can do for him now." He answered.

Alice walked over to one of Uriah's dead men and picked up his rifle. Pointing it at Uriah's head, she squeezed the trigger and blew his brains out. Throwing the rifle down, she turned aside and vomited onto the ground. Her friends rushed over to her with concerned looks on their faces. Having emptied her guts, she turned to face her friends.

"I know he deserved a slow death, what he intended to do to us was horrible. But I couldn't just leave him like that, we're better than that." She said in a firm voice, despite the fact that she was shaking violently. The other two nodded in agreement.

"We understand." Hannah whispered to her.

"Yeah, like you said, we're better than that" Sarah added.

Hauling her to her feet, Sarah turned to face their rescuer and said. "We're ready now."

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Will held up her Heart of Candracar and activated the crystal. Melinda watched as her mum and aunts transformed into their guardian forms. It felt weird seeing someone other than her group of friends transforming into guardians. Stranger still was the fact that the people in question were her various adopted aunts and her mum. That weirded her out just a little.

OK more than a little. But it made sense that as they were going to Meridian and Phobos was still in power, they needed the boost. As W.I.T.C.H finished transforming she held up her Heart of Candracar and transformed, her body became older and her familiar guardian costume of black trousers and purple, belly-baring tank top. Judging from the way W.I.T.C.H were looking at her, it was just as strange for them to see her transform.

"Are we ready to go?" She asked briskly. Caleb looked at her.

"Actually.." he began, but Melinda shook her head.

"You ARE coming with us. You're just as vital for this mission as anyone else" She held up her hand to stop him as he opened his mouth to speak. "I know you want to bring Elyon home, but it is vital that we succeed here first."

Cornelia let out a gasp of surprise. Melinda put her hand on her head.

"Listen! Right now there's a major problem with the guardians in the future and they're depending on us to come through for them. We can focus on our problems later." Will snapped out at them. Cornelia and Caleb glared at her mutinously. Will glared back with equal ferocity. With a slight twinge of regret, Melinda grabbed Caleb and physically threw him through the portal with ease. The other girls stared at her, but it was Irma who spoke first.

"You should've done that to Corny."

Cornelia snarled at her, but before she could do any more, Irma jumped through the fold. The others followed in short order.

AN: Although Melinda isn't normally as strong as Caleb, in guardian form she is.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: What are you expecting me to say? Of course I don't own W.I.T.C.H

"Boy, am I glad to see you guys!" Anzu exclaimed excitedly as she saw Alice, Sarah and Hannah enter the tent.

"Anzu!" Sarah cried out as she embraced her best friend in a powerful hug. "Are you ok?"

Anzu smiled. "Better, now you guys are here. Cornelia saved my life out there."

"Yeah we heard." Alice replied with a smile on her face.

"I hate to break up this happy little reunion, but we still have the problem of us getting to Meridian." Caleb said pointedly. The girls turned to face him. "What, it's a fact. With Blunk and the Heart of Candracar destroyed, we're short on ways to open portals."

"What about Lillian?" Anzu asked curiously. Caleb frowned.

"No. Lillian is far to busy keeping Earth safe from Lord Shail. I will not risk my home to further invasion. The only reason that Lord Shail and his magical minions haven't come to Earth is because Lillian is stopping them, but it's drawing on her power all the time and she has none to spare on something like this."

"But if we pull this off, she won't need to draw on her power. If we fix the timeline, then this'll never happen." Alice snapped at him, the fire guardians temper rising.

"IF is the operative word. What happens if we fail? We'll have left Earth defenceless against Lord Shail's magic. It's not worth the risk."

"Perhaps I could get time/space to open a fold for us." Thomas suggested, having been uncharacteristically quiet throughout the conversation. All eyes turned towards him. "What? It's worth a try."

"Try it. If that doesn't work, then we'll try and find another way." Caleb said.

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"Does anyone have any idea as to how we're going to get into the castle?" Will asked as she looked at the castle. "I doubt Phobos will let us just stroll in."

"I've got an idea." Caleb suggested. All eyes turned to him, with the exception of Melinda. "I'm guessing you remember this ploy, but as the story hasn't happened yet, the others won't."

"Guess not" Melinda replied, a grin forming on her face.

"Are you going to tell us, or do we need to wait all day!" Will snapped at them. Melinda may have been her adopted daughter, but right now her smug attitude was annoying Will.

"Well firstly we'll have to contact the rebels." Caleb said, determined to stop a full-blown argument. "Then we…"

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Lord Shail looked hard at Rebecca. "What makes you think these girls are a threat to us?" he asked aggressively.

Rebecca raised her head to answer her lord. "Yes my Lord. The guardians…"

"The guardians are dead!" Lord Shail bellowed at her. "They are no longer a threat to us!"

"Yes my Lord. These are the guardians of another timeline. Do you remember the Phoenix initiative, my Lord?" Rebecca asked.

He nodded.

"Well my liege, it's now in effect. Those were the guardians who defeated you. Fortunately, with Candracar destroyed and their leader lost in the vortex of time, they will be powerless and easy for us to destroy." Rebecca finished.

"Very well. I am going to Meridian to head off any possibility of them getting to the Phoenix device there. You will go into the past and ensure that nobody in the past decides to get it." He told her.

"Yes my liege. It will be as you command." She answered, her head bowed. As she left, Lord Shail let out a cruel laugh. There was no way he could ever be defeated, he thought to himself. He planned for every contingency. Even a supposedly total defeat could become a victory under the right circumstances and the right planning.

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Thomas closed his eyes and focused on contacting time/space.

"What is it, Thomas Vandom?" a familiar voice asked.

"Umm… We need a spatial fold to Meridian to get there. Can you help us out with that?" Thomas asked, his usual cockiness gone.

The voice sighed. "Thomas Vandom." It began "As my agent amongst the world of mortals, YOU can open spatial folds. All you have to do is focus your mind on where you wish to go and draw your finger in a slashing motion. A spatial fold will appear."

"Thanks" Thomas replied.

"You know I'm sure I mentioned this when I sent you." Time/space said as he left.

"No you didn't!" Thomas snapped back, his unease swept aside by his annoyance.

"Oh wait, I'm sorry. I told you at 850 words per second. I forgot that you mortals can't talk that fast. My mistake." Time/space replied and Thomas could've sworn he heard the thing chuckle.

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"This stuff is itchy." Cornelia moaned as they peeked out of the straw they were hiding in.

"Quit moaning Corny!" Irma snapped back. "If it gets us in, we can tolerate a little itchiness. Or would you rather try charging in and getting eaten by that snake thing."

"Lord Cedric." Melinda added coldly.

"I'm going to be pulling this stuff outta my hair for a week." Cornelia moaned.

"Quiet guys, we need to get in." Will snapped at them.

"Sorry." They both whispered simultaneously, causing the others to stare. Irma and Cornelia glared in response, but decided to stay silent.

"Hay for Prince Phobos's horses!" Caleb called out to the castle guards. They waved him through, Will peering nervously out of the hay.

"We're inside!" Caleb hissed when they pulled into the castle stables.

"About time!" Cornelia grumbled as she unceremoniously fell out of the haystack. Hay Lin's head poked out of the top.

"It's kinda fun!" she exclaimed cheerfully, before recoiling under Caleb's stare. "Or it would be if we weren't on a secret mission to save the world an all."

"Hay, only you would see the bright side in creeping into a castle full of monsters." Irma commented sardonically.

"Come on, this way!" Caleb ordered, gesturing towards the dungeons.

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Thomas opened his eyes to see Caleb and the others looking at him.

"I guess you weren't able to get your boss to open a spatial fold for us." Caleb said, to which Thomas grinned.

"Actually" Thomas began and slashed his finger in mid air to create a spatial fold "I didn't need to."

Without further ado, they walked through to Meridian.

AN: To those of you wondering where Elyon is in this fic, you'll find out in the next chapter.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: W.I.T.C.H isn't my idea. Wish it was though.

As the W.I.T.C.H girls, Caleb and Melinda entered the castle, they saw the place was in an uproar.

"So much for sneaking in. It looks like they know we're here." Will murmured to Caleb, but Caleb held up his hand.

"It's not us they're looking for." He replied. "If this doesn't work, then we'll have to rescue Vathek on the way out."

"Y'know we have absolutely no idea if this will reset the timeline for certain." Taranee pointed out.

"Hey, it works in the movies." Melinda replied, to which Irma, Cornelia and Taranee all rolled their eyes.

"Yeah, because movies are such a great source of reliable information." Irma snapped back sarcastically.

"You know, something must be wrong. I'm actually agreeing with Irma. AGAIN." Cornelia added.

"If you have any better ideas, feel free to tell me." Melinda shot back.

"Besides, we all need a little movie magic moment in our life." Hay Lin added, a goofy smile forming on her face. Caleb raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry, she's always like that." Irma said by way of an explanation.

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Thomas looked around at where the spatial fold had taken them.

"You know I was sort of aiming for the palace." He said quietly. Caleb shook his head.

"No-ones been able to fold into the palace since we discovered Lord Shail. He almost captured the queen by folding into the dungeons. After that, Elyon cast a spell to stop any such attack from ever happening again." Caleb pointed out. Thomas and the remaining guardians raised eyebrows in disbelief.

"We're not far from the palace anyway." Cornelia interjected, sensing an argument "This way!"

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Lord Shail silently slipped himself into the palace, as he had done so many times before. This time he wasn't here to spy or to try and capture the queen. (After his last and only attempt had almost gotten him captured.) Lord Shail preferred to send others in to do his dangerous work, but Elyon would have detected them in seconds. Lord Shail's immunity to magic on the other hand, meant that he could slip in. There were of course guards, but he could dodge them.

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As Melinda, Caleb and W.I.T.C.H entered the dungeons, they came face to face with someone Melinda knew far better than she wished. With her metallic skin and blood red eyes, Rebecca Hart stood in their path.

"What are YOU doing here?" Melinda and Rebecca exclaimed as they saw each other.

"No matter little girl. You are no match for me, your friends cannot help you now. Even as we speak, my Lord Shail is already waiting for them. And when you die, so to dies any chance of your timeline being restored." Rebecca snarled.

"You forget something Rebecca. You can't kill. It destroys your powers." Melinda replied quietly.

Rebecca chuckled. "I can't. But I don't need to. All I have to do is to hold you off until, say Lord Cedric arrives or Prince Phobos's other minions. They can."

At that point, Irma shot a stream of water at Rebecca, yelling, "You look like you could use a little polishing tin girl!"

But the stream never reached her, as the distance between them suddenly stretched out for what seemed like miles. "You can't even touch me, little girl!" Rebecca sneered, before suddenly shortening the gap between herself and Melinda and smashing her fist into Melinda's jaw, knocking her unconscious. And so the battle began.

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"Cornelia!" an excited voice called over to the group as they entered the castle. A young woman with straw-blonde hair engulfed Cornelia in a massive hug. "How are you? What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

Cornelia smiled. "Hi Elyon. It's a long story." She replied.

Caleb bowed to Elyon. "Your majesty." He said in a formal voice.

"Caleb, how many times do I have to tell you? Just call me Elyon, ok?" Elyon rebuked him in a friendly tone and the others smirked. For as long as Thomas and the other guardians could remember, Caleb had called Elyon your Majesty and every time he did, she would tell him to just call her Elyon. It had become something of a running joke.

Turning to face the others, Elyon quizzically raised an eyebrow.

"Who are these people?" Elyon asked curiously.

"It's a long story Elyon." Cornelia began.

"We'll fill you in as we go down into the dungeons." Finished Caleb.

Elyon stared at her best friend and at Caleb, Cornelia's husband curiously for a moment. Then, turning on her heel, she gestured for them to follow her. "Very well. Start by introducing these people." She said.

"Hi, I'm Alice Dwar the water guardian!" Alice said, jumping forward. "We've met before, but you won't remember it 'cos of the changes in the timeline an all."

"Are you trying to scare her Alice?" Anzu asked sardonically. "I'm Anzu Watshashi. I'm the Earth guardian"

"Sarah Gold. Fire."

"Hannah Smith. Air."

"And I'm Thomas Vandom, an agent of time. I'm meant to help fix things." Thomas finished.

Elyon stared at them in disbelief.

"We'll explain on the way to the dungeons." Cornelia added.

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For W.I.T.C.H, the battle was going badly. Every attack they threw at Rebecca Hart simply couldn't reach her as she stretched out or compressed the space around her as she dodged attacks from W.I.T.C.H and Caleb, while throwing her own attacks, reversing gravity and throwing powerful punches. Caleb and Irma were on the floor, caught by surprise as Rebecca suddenly compressed the space between them and threw a couple of knockout punches at them both. Hay Lin, incensed at the attack on her friend, sent a small tornado heading Rebecca's way, but with practised skill, Rebecca curved the space between her and Hay Lin and the attack smacked firmly into Will, sending her flying.

Cornelia split the ground apart attempting to pull Rebecca under and she almost succeeded, had Rebecca not suddenly reversed gravity on the blond Earth guardian and sent her flying to the ceiling.

Taranee cursed under her breath. How where they supposed to beat this woman? Every time they threw an attack at her, she bent the space around herself, causing the attack to fail. Then it hit her.

"Cornelia!" Taranee yelled "Pull everything towards you!"

"What?" Cornelia asked incredulously.

"Do as she says Cornelia, I think I know what she's thinking." Will added.

With a sigh, Cornelia kneeled down, closed her eyes and focused on pulling everything towards her. Suddenly, the warped space around Rebecca returned to normal. Without hesitation, the remaining members of the group attacked. A small tornado from Hay Lin picked Rebecca up and a fireball from Taranee blew her away. As Rebecca pulled herself back to her feet, Will smacked a punch into her jaw knocking her out cold.

"Ouch, that hurt." Will said as she blew on her knuckles.

Melinda, Caleb and Irma came to, still groggy from Rebecca's punches.

"Seize them!" yelled a new voice. Turning in the direction of the voice, they saw Lord Cedric and a huge group of Lurdens and castle guards standing at the entrance to the dungeons. W.I.T.C.H, Caleb and Melinda ran for it, deeper into the dungeons, to their destination.

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"So let's see if I understand this right. Lord Shail's minion Rebecca changed the past and caused his defeat at Candracar to become a victory instead." Elyon said.

"That's about the size of it." Thomas agreed.

Elyon shook her head in disbelief. "Sounds crazy to me." she said.

"Well it can't hurt to look." Cornelia replied calmly. "Besides, since we discovered the whole Guardian stuff, crazy isn't so far-fetched."

Elyon chuckled. "No it isn't, is it? Well I don't want any of Rebecca Hart's devices in my dungeons. What do you plan on do-"

Elyon was suddenly cut off as a wall came crashing down between them.

"Elyon!" Screamed Cornelia.

"I'd be more worried about yourself." A cold voice said from across the room. They all turned to the originator of the voice. There stood Lord Shail. "And now you're trapped in here with me. By the time help gets here, you'll all be dead."

"Yeah? Well we'll just see about that." Replied Sarah challengingly and although her powers were absent, Anzu could've sworn her friends eyes were aflame. And with a cruel laugh, Lord Shail attacked.

AN: I had to use this chapter to drill through a little writers block, so it's not perfect, but I'd like to think it's good enough.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Who do you think I am? Elizabetta Gnone? Sorry I'm not her, ergo I don't own W.I.T.C.H.

AN: To avoid confusion, I've labelled the two separate times as past and future. To AJ thanks for your review.

Past

Reaching their destination, W.I.T.C.H, Caleb and Melinda saw the device for the first time. The large, ornate clock that Rebecca had placed there was hovering in the air throwing off waves of black and white energy. Images of the future mixed with images of the present. The group stood there, transfixed by the sight in front of them.

"Ok, that's just weird." Melinda said, breaking the silence.

"So what now?" Caleb asked.

"Now we take it down." Will answered decisively.

"Search the dungeons!" Lord Cedric bellowed from somewhere nearby.

"I'll draw them away!" Hay Lin volunteered. "You guys focus on dealing with this thing " Caleb opened his mouth to object, but Hay Lin held up her hand to stop him with a firmness that was uncharacteristic for her. "This concerns you, Cornelia, Will and maybe Melinda."

Caleb opened his mouth once more, but it was Will this time who cut him off. "Hay's right." She turned to face Hay Lin. "Be careful. I don't want you getting captured or killed."

"There's no way I'm letting you have all the fun." Irma interrupted as Hay Lin opened her mouth to reply. "Besides" Irma continued "you need me to keep an eye on you, or you'd never get into trouble at school ever again! Then what would you do for fun?"

Hay Lin grinned at her friend. Irma grinned back. Then, without another word, they flew off.

"I hope they'll be ok." Will murmured pensively as she stared in the direction Hay Lin and Irma had flown off in. Caleb came up to her and gave her a quick kiss.

"I sure hope so." He whispered in Will's ear.

Turning to face the device, Will, Taranee, Cornelia, Melinda and Caleb approached the device.

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Future

Caleb ducked as Lord Shail sent a stream of missiles flying his way. Cornelia snapped up her rifle to her shoulder and squeezed the trigger, only to hear a useless click. Cursing under her breath for forgetting that portals made guns useless, she was thrown backward by a stun grenade as it landed at her feet.

Alice, Sarah, Anzu and Hannah split up, forcing Lord Shail to split his attentions. Thomas used Lord Shail's momentary hesitation to jump unto the ceiling and shoot a stream of webbing into his face.

"Arrgh!" he screamed as he clawed at the webbing determined to get it off his face. Taking advantage of this, Anzu and Hannah charged in to attack Lord Shail's right with jumping front kicks, hitting him just under the ribcage. Less than ten seconds later, Alice and Sarah joined the attack from the left with a volley of punches to his gut and legs.

"Go, we'll keep him busy!" Anzu yelled to Cornelia and Caleb. Thomas moved to join them, but Anzu glared at him. "You too Thomas Vandom! This does involve you as well!"

Hannah went flying past them as she failed to dodge one of Lord Shail's arms to crash into the wall opposite. She didn't get back up. With a feral scream, Anzu charged back into the fight.

With one final agonised look back, Thomas, Cornelia and Caleb ran to their destination.

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Past

"Hey, snake-face! Are you even trying to catch us, 'cos I could write a book waiting for you!" Irma taunted Cedric, as she stood at the entrance to one of the many tunnels in the dudgeons.

"Don't be cruel Irma. He probably doesn't know what a book is!" Hay Lin added from the entrance of another tunnel, her trademark grin was almost mocking in its appearance.

"Seize them!" Cedric bellowed, pointing in their direction. Irma flew down the tunnel, determined to draw as many guards as possible in her direction. Hay Lin on the other hand, stood her ground with her hands on her hips.

"I'm the air guardian." She began with a slightly crazy gleam in her eyes and her grin became wider. Drawing in a deep breath, she blew out, her air magic sending lurdens and guards flying backwards in the wind. "I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow you away." She finished with a laugh. As the lurdens and guards picked themselves up and Lord Cedric came charging at her, she gave them a little wave and took off. Splitting into two groups, the lurdens and castle guards gave chase to Irma and Hay Lin, down the separate tunnels.

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Future

Thomas, Cornelia and Caleb stared at the device in front of them. It was the same device that Melinda and the others had just encountered in the past.

"Ok that's just plain weird." Thomas said, unaware that he had just mimicked his sister.

"Lets do this." Cornelia growled and all three of them stepped towards the device.

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Past

Hay Lin was abruptly forced to stop as the tunnel she was flying down suddenly hit a dead end. From nearby she could hear Cedric and his minions gaining on her. Turning round, she gritted her teeth and frowned. She reckoned that her chances of escape were slim to none, but Hay Lin wasn't afraid. This was part of the risks you took as a superhero, but you never quit, no matter what. People underestimated the power of air, her grandmother had once told her. But air was at its most powerful under pressure.

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Future

Anzu smashed her fist in a smooth uppercut into Lord Shail's jaw while Sarah slammed a spinning kick into his left arm. Caleb's training them in the martial arts was paying off.

Alice's hand was on Hannah's neck as she took her friends pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when she detected a pulse. Getting to her feet, Alice gave the other two a thumbs up sign and charged into the fight with Lord Shail once more.

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Past

Irma stared at the group of lurdens and castle guards heading her way and smiled. Hadn't these guys ever heard of sewers? She thought to herself.

Stretching out her arms, she summoned as much water as she possibly could and flooded the tunnel like it was a giant sewer. As the guards and lurdens were swept out, she felt a sudden feeling of dread that Hay Lin was in trouble. Launching herself down the tunnel she was in, she feverently prayed that she wasn't too late.

AN: A little poll here. I've got three new multi-chapter W.I.T.C.H fics waiting to be started when I post the next and final chapter of this fic and I'm wondering which one to put up. They're all going up, but I'm wondering which one to put up when I end this fic.

The first one is W.I.T.C.H Dark mirror, in which Hay Lin finds herself fighting evil versions of the W.I.T.C.H girls.

The second is a next gen fic called S.T.E.E.L. For further details, you'll have to read it when it goes up.

The third is called W.I.T.C.H Into the Arena, a crossover between W.I.T.C.H, Battlebeasts and the book Kamira the Sky village. It has some similarities to a fic XV-Dragon is talking about doing, but that has more to do with the aspect of the book I'm using.

As always read and review


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I may be many things, but the owner of W.I.T.C.H is not one of them.

Here are the results of the poll.

W.I.T.C.H Dark Mirror: 0

S.T.E.E.L: 1

W.I.T.C.H Into The Arena: 2

So into the arena it is. S.T.E.E.L and Dark Mirror will come later.

AN: When I refer to the point at which the future and past meet, I'm using the term future/past to make things clear. Hope it works

Past

A blast of air send Lurdens and Guards flying in all directions, the attack made all the more potent by the lack of space.

Hay Lin gasped as Lord Cedric grabbed her throat and began to squeeze. She sent a blast of magic at him, but he swatted it away like it was of no consequence. As her vision grew dim, she saw a huge ball of fire hit Cedric hard in the back, forcing him to let go. Falling to the ground, Hay Lin took a deep breath and faced her rescuer.

"I could've taken him." She said. "Thanks anyway, T."

Taranee grinned at her friend. "Yeah well I couldn't let you have all the fun."

Cedric roared as he pulled himself up. Taranee threw another fireball at Cedric but he merely batted it aside. A beam of blue magic zipped from Hay Lin towards Lord Cedric. But at the last minute, the magic suddenly zipped around him to stop behind him.

Taranee looked at her friend as though she'd gone crazy.

"Hay" Taranee began, "You're supposed to attack him, not dodge him."

Hay Lin merely grinned at her friend. Lord Cedric pulled himself to his full height. Suddenly he was sent flying backward with unbelievable speed.

"You don't need to hit someone to take them out." Hay Lin said with a grin. Taranee grinned back, her eyes lit up as she realised what her friend had done.

"Changing air pressure! Smart thinking Hay!" Taranee exclaimed.

Hay Lin grinned back. "Hey I'm not an idiot."

"You think that you're a match for me, you little fools." Cedric snarled as he charged at them once more, this time supported by the Lurdens and Guards that Hay Lin had sent flying earlier.

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Future/Past

Thomas, Cornelia and Caleb stared in disbelief as Will, Cornelia and Melinda joined them from the past.

"Will?" Cornelia of the future began, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Is that really you?"

"Ok, there is no way that's Me." the Cornelia of the past stated. "I mean please. She looks like a fashion reject." Cornelia of the future laughed bitterly.

"Oh" she began "How I'd love to be that age again. Where I didn't have the cares I have now." And with that statement, she embraced Will in a tight hug. Thomas and Melinda hugged each other as well, almost as though they were afraid to ever-let go.

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Past

A burst of fire from Taranee forced the Lurdens and guards to back off. Meanwhile Hay Lin blinded the guards and Lurdens by kicking up a minor dust storm underneath them. Choking they backed off.

"Seize them you fools!" Bellowed Lord Cedric, clearly angry that these two guardians were making a fool of him.

"Oh I don't think so, snake-face." A voice called from behind him. Turning to face this new voice, Cedric was caught by a wave of water flooding the tunnel. The water flooding the tunnel suddenly stopped as it reached Taranee and Hay Lin, almost as though there was a solid barrier between them and the rest of the tunnel. When the water filled the tunnel, with the exception of the space where Hay Lin and Taranee were, the water flooded out.

As Hay Lin and Taranee cautiously made their way down the tunnel, they found Irma sitting there on her knees, a look of exhaustion on her face.

"Did you like my little watershow?" Irma asked with as much energy as she could muster.

"Definitely." Hay Lin replied with a grin. "I think that should give the others enough time to finish things."

"Right." Taranee agreed. "I suggest we get out of here. Draw the bad guys attention outside."

Nodding in agreement, the three of them took off.

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Future/Past

"What are we waiting for?" Caleb of the future growled. "Lets just destroy this thing and be done with!" and then he smashed his fist into the clock face with all his might.

"No, wait!" Melinda and Thomas exclaimed, but it was too late. The clock face shattered under Caleb's fist and suddenly a white bubble spread out from the device and they knew no more.

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Past

"Uh guys? I think we're in trouble" Irma exclaimed as the bubble of white expanded to them at what seemed like an impossible speed. Before anyone could say anything else, they were engulfed in the white bubble.

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Future

Sarah, Alice, Anzu and Hannah barely had time to register the expanding white bubble before it engulfed them.

Queen Elyon tried to stop it, but even her powers were no match for it.

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Thomas Vandom sat up with a groan and opened his eyes. Looking around, he saw he was back in the white void once more.

"What happened? Did we succeed?" He asked.

"I'm afraid Mr Vandom, that your fathers actions have caused your world and Meridian to be pulled into a time/space fold." Time/space answered.

"What do you mean, pulled into a time/space fold?" Thomas demanded.

"By destroying the device when he did, he shattered the timelines it was interfering with. Meridian and Earth are frozen within a moment of time. They are frozen outside time and space."

Thomas slowly sat down and placed his hands on his face. After coming so close to success, one rash act had undone all that they had hoped to achieve.

"Wait, I thought that sort of thing would destroy you?" Thomas asked, to which Time/Space laughed.

"The universe is far bigger than just Earth and Meridian. I am infinitely flexible and can be bent indefinitely. It take far more than a little meddling in time to damage me." Time/Space replied.

"Well good for you!" Thomas snapped back sarcastically.

"There is still a chance to make things right." Time/Space said in a calm voice "but it will require you to leave your time/space continuum. To live outside of time and space."

Thomas gritted his teeth and closed his eyes.

"Don't have any choice in the matter do I?" he pointed out as he opened them. "Tell me what needs doing."

"Are you sure Thomas Vandom? This is not a decision to be made lightly. I could send you to another world, let you start afresh."

"Couldn't do that to my friends or family. So tell me what needs doing." Thomas answered.

"Very well. I will send you back to the point at which you and the others reached the device, just before your father Caleb smashed it. Then you must…" Time/Space began to tell Thomas what he must do.

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With a sudden flash, Thomas was back to the point in time just before Caleb smashed the device.

"That's not going to fix things!" Thomas yelled at Caleb as he knocked his fathers hand aside.

"What are we supposed to do about this thing then?" Caleb snapped back.

"Time/Space has told me what we need to do." Thomas replied calmly. "Melinda, Will, place the two Hearts of Candracar together." Will and Melinda shot him questioning glances. "Please, trust me on this."

Somewhat dubiously, Will and Melinda put the two hearts together.

"Now, Will, Cornelia and Caleb. Pile your hands over the two Hearts. Melinda hold your hands above the others hands." He instructed them.

He watched as they did as he told them. Now came the hard part. Closing his eyes, he placed his hands above and below the two Hearts and a column of white light appeared between them. The device and the column began to react and time began to reset itself and the timeline flashed across them.

Flashback

"Cos you like me?" Matt asked Will, cutting off the stream of babble coming from her mouth. Matt chuckled. "Wow, I can't believe I just said that."

"And I can't believe I'm going to do this." Will said and she grabbed him and kissed him on the lips. And for a moment, Will Vandom wasn't worried about Meridian, or the fact that her friend Elyon thought that Will and her friends were her enemies, or even worried about being the keeper of the Heart of Candracar. For a moment, she was just a normal teenage girl, experiencing her first kiss.

Flashback

"This is it. The final battle for Meridian has begun." Caleb said to Cornelia. Then he turned to face Hay Lin, who was standing behind them, "You should go on ahead."

Hay Lin raised one eyebrow and brought the other one down. "Oh!" she exclaimed as she realised what Caleb and Cornelia were about to do. "I'll be in the other world. If you need me." she finished, putting her hands together and bowing. When she stood up, she chuckled and gave Cornelia and Caleb two thumbs up and a wink, before walking into the portal to Meridian.

Cornelia sighed and took a step closer to Caleb. Leaning forward, they kissed for the first time.

Neither Will and Matt, nor Caleb and Cornelia knew that their relationships were doomed to failure. Cornelia and Caleb broke up a month after W.I.T.C.H defeated Lord Cedric, after he had swallowed Prince Phobos. Will's relationship with Matt ended shortly after that. Will was destined to marry Caleb, Cornelia married Irma and Matt married Hay Lin. The timeline had been restored.

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Future

Melinda opened her eyes to see Joan Lin looking down at her with concern.

"What happened?" Melinda asked slowly.

"You fainted. How are you feeling?" Joan replied in a worried voice.

Melinda blinked twice. "Ok, I think."

"You're not working any more tonight, no arguments." Joan snapped out, her maternal instincts kicking in. "I'm wondering if we should take you down to the hospital."

"Mrs Lin, I don't need to go to the hospital, it's not that desperate." Said Melinda calmly.

Joan didn't look convinced, but she let the matter drop.

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Future

Anzu opened her eyes to a splitting headache and Matthew Chang standing over her with a look of concern on his face.

"Ok, I didn't think I was that good a kisser." He joked nervously. "Are you ok?"

Anzu responded by grabbing him with both arms and pulling him into a passionate kiss.

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Future

Sarah, Alice and Hannah opened their eyes and looked around them. It was Alice who broke the silence.

"Judging by the fact that everything's back to normal, I guess we managed to save the day. Again."

"I guess so." Sarah replied. "I'll call the others using my telepathy."

Closing her eyes, Sarah called Anzu and Melinda.

"Anzu, you there?" Sarah asked telepathically.

"Sarah, unless it's an end of the world type emergency, I'm not interested." Anzu replied lazily, also telepathically.

"We'll talk tomorrow." Melinda added.

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Thomas looked at the white void around him and sighed. He'd saved the world and everyone he cared about, but it left him trapped here.

"Thomas Vandom. I have a proposal for you that will allow you to return to your world." Time/Space said. Thomas perked up.

"Really? How?" Thomas asked.

"The events that lead you here have shown me that I need an agent in the world. Interference in time is far to big a temptation for mortals. I need someone who can intervene on my behalf. You can be that person." Time/Space replied.

Thomas placed his hand on his chin. "Well, I guess I'm in. After all, it's not like you're evil exactly, is it?"

"Good and evil are human concepts. I will contact you later with the details." Time/Space replied.

With a flash, Thomas was back in his room.

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Future, the day after Melinda's guardians returned the timeline.

"This has got to be the weirdest thing you've ever done as a guardian." Will said as the newer guardians finished telling their story. "I'm proud of you. All of you."

Melinda smiled. "Thanks mum."

"Yeah, and with me protecting the time/space continuum, you won't have to worry about a repeat performance of what happened." Thomas added.

The Oracle looked at them benignly and turned to face the council of Candracar.

"Here is the best proof we could ever ask for, that we have chosen the right people to be guardians once again." He told them. The council applauded.

On the West Coast of Africa, a butterfly flapped its wings.

Flap, flap.

AN: Originally I was going to simply restore the timeline by having the device touched by Will, Cornelia of past and future, Caleb of past and future, Melinda and Thomas. But then I decided that it would seem to easy, so I came up with this.


End file.
